Conveyor elevator



P. P. RUPPE ET AL Nov. 4, 1958 CONVEYOR ELEVATOR Original Filed Feb. 25, 1952 6 m M m l WW M4 MRJ M M 5w YEW 7 v 0 United Stat t nt CONVEYOR ELEVATOR Peter P. Ruppe and Alan E. Bodycombe, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.

Original application February 25, 1952, Serial No. 273,290, now Patent No. 2,762,519, dated September 11, 1956. Divided and this application September 10, 1956, Serial No. 614,041

2 Claims. (Cl. 214-730) This invention relates to conveyor elevators and, in particular, to a conveyor elevator for lifting small articles from a supply station at a lower level to a delivery station at a higher level, and discharging them at the higher level.

One object of this invention is to provide a conveyor elevator which automatically picks up small articles from a supply station such as a tote box or other supply receptacle and carries them upward to a delivery station at a higher level where it discharges them into a discharge receptacle such as a chute, repeating the operation regularly until the tote box has been emptied.

Another object is to provide a conveyor elevator of the foregoing character in which the articles are wholly or partly of ferrous metal and the elevator has a magnet for picking up and carrying the articles.

Another object is to provide a conveyor elevator wherein the article carrier picks up and conveys measured quantities of the articles.

Another object is to provide a conveyor elevator of the foregoing character which is provided with variable compensating mechanism which automatically makes an allowance for the changing level in the tote box or supply receptacle, so that the article carrier always'halts at the level of the articles in the supply receptacle and automatically reverses its motion, regardless of the changing level of the articles therein.

Another object is to provide a conveyor elevator of the foregoing character wherein an article pickup is elevated by various means, such as mechanically by a fluid pressure operated motor.

Another object is to provide a conveyor elevator of the foregoing character wherein the article pickup at a predetermined location during its path of ascent is automatically moved laterally to a discharge station at a higher level but offset laterally from the supply station, and returned laterally to its original path at a predetermined location during its path of descent. 7

Another object is to provide a conveyor elevator wherein the elevated articles, after discharge, are received into a-receptacle which is provided with a device which automatically halts the conveyor elevator at a predetermined level of the articles, thereby preventing overflow of the articles in the receiving receptacle.

Another object is to provide a conveyor elevator of the foregoing character which is arranged substantially vertically so as .to occupy the minimum floor space and to operate with the minimum interference with adjacent activities. 7

Another object is to provide a conveyor elevator in which the speed of delivery of the conveyor elevator may be varied to suit individualconditions.

Other, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a'central vertical section through a 'modi- Patented Nov. 4, 1958 2 ated elevating piston with the article pickup in its lowered or loading position; and

Figure 2 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken along the line 22 in Figure l.

Hitherto, in industrial establishments, the conveying of small parts or articles from a lower loading level to a higher discharge level has presented a difficult problem, particularly as regards the conveying of such articles in measured quantities. Another difliculty has been the problem of adjusting the rate of delivery of the conveyor to the varying demands of the machine or other articleconsuming station so that the conveyor will deliver neither too few nor too many articles at a given time. Still another problem has been the difficulty of adapting the loading point of the conveyor to a varying level of the articles to be conveyed, or to a varying level of the articles discharged.

The present invention solves all of these problems by providing a conveyor elevator where in the articles are picked up automatically by an article pickup which is provided with compensating mechanism permitting it to rise and fall in response to the rise and fall of the level of the articles in the supply receptacle at the loading station, to reverse itself automatically, to halt automatically at its elevated position and discharge the articles, and again to reverse automatically and travel downward to its loading position, repeating these operations indefinitely until halted by the operator or auto.- matically by an excessive accumulation of articles at the discharge station. The article pickup for picking up ferrous metal articles is provided with a pickup magnet, and is automatically swung laterally to its discharge position when it reaches a predetermined location during its upward path of travel, and returned laterally to its original path at a predetermined position in its descent, the conveyor elevator being reversed automatically at the lower and upper positions of its travel so that it repeats its conveying and elevating operation repeatedly an indefinite number of times.

Referring to the drawings in detail, Figures 1 and .2 show a conveyor elevator, generally designated 120, according to one form of the invention as arranged to pick up and elevate articles 11 of ferrous metal from a supply container or receptacle, generally designated 12, to a receiving or delivery container or receptacle, generally designated 13, located at a higher level. This supply container or receptacle 12 may be a tote box, as shown, or it may consist of a supply conveyor, such as a belt conveyor, or any other means by which the articles to be conveyed are brought into proximity to the con.- veyor elevator 120. As shown, the supply container or receptacle 12 is in the form of a tote box with sides 14 and a flat bottom 15 with sloping walls 16 extending from the sides 14 to the bottom 15 so as to cause the articles to slide downward toward the bottom 15.

The conveyor elevator is provided with a base structure generally designated 17 having an annular central portion 18 with arms 19 radiating outwardly therefrom to bosses 20 which are bored vertically as at 21 to slidably receive legs 22 held in position by set screws 23 threaded through holes 24 transversely to the bore 21. Secured as at 25 within the central bore 26 of the annular portion 18 is a tubular housing 27 which extends upward to the top of the machine and is there closed by a cover or top wall 28. The housing 27 has a laterally offset extension 29 with an opening 30 which receives a discharge spout 31 having a downwardly and outwardly inclined bottom wall 32, and a rear wall 33 located within the confines of the housing 27.

Secured as at 36 to the bottom wall 32 of the discharge spout 31 is a downwardly-extending bracket 37 carrying a conventional normally-closed discharge control switch 38 having an operating plunger 39 which is moved to opencircuit position by a laterally-swinging switch-operating arm 40 pivoted as at 41 to a bracket 42 secured as at 43 to theunderside of the bottom Wall 32 of the discharge spout 31. As discussed below in connection with the operation of the invention, the switch-operating arm 40 is swung to the right as the articles discharged from the spout 31'accumulate in a mound in the receiving container 13 and roll down the slope thereof against the switchoperating arm 40, swinging the latter into operating engag'ement with the switch-operating plunger 39 to open the switch 38 and halt the conveyor operation.

For purposes of illustration, the articles 11 are assumed to be of ferrous metal such as iron or steel, or of iron alloys and therefore magnetically attracted. For the purpose of picking up and carrying such ferrous metal articles, the conveyor elevator 120 is provided with a magnetic article pickup, generally designated 50, which includes a cup-shaped non-magnetic casing 51 secured to a cover 52 which in turn is bolted or'otherwise secured 'as at 53'to a plateor disc 54 having a central hub or boss 55 provided with a bore 56 which loosely and slidably receives a rod or shaft 57 carrying a permanent magnet '58'on its'lower end 59.

In the present invention the article pickup 50 is guided in its upward travel or ascent and also swung laterally at the topof its-travel by a channel cam, generally designated 6t), and attached by angle brackets 61 to the inner surface of the housing 27 at intervals during its extent. The channel cam is provided for the greater part of its height with a straight or rectilinear portion 62 at the top 63 of which it continues in a curved or helical portion 64 and at a higher turning point 65 continues again upward in a straight or rectilinear portion 66. The curved or helicalportion'64 (Figure 4) is of sufficient extent circumferentially to swing the article carrier 50 laterally to the desiredextent, for example approximately a third of a revolution. The top portion '66 is secured to the housing-27 by an elongated angle -bracket67.

In order to limit the vertical travel of the ar'ticlepickup 50 and its rod 57, a quarter-circular stop bar 68 is bolted or otherwise secured at'its opposite ends'69"(Figures 3 and4) to the inside of the-side walls 70 of the housing extension 29. The quarter-circular stop bar 68 is of-a radius of curvature slightly greater than the radius of curvature of'the hub or boss 55 so as to provide clearance 'of the '-latter during its ascent, until one of the bolts 53*eng'ages the underside of the stop bar 68' and halts the ascent of the article carrier 50, as described in connection with the operation of the invention. When this occurs, the upper end 156 of the rod 57 engages and pushes upward the operating arm 76'of an upper motorreversing switch 77 mounted on an angle bracket 78 secured to the inside of the front wall 79 of the casing extension 29.

A starting and stopping switch 93 is connected by wires 95 and 96 to the discharge control switch 38, and is sup plied with electric current from the wires 97 and 98 connected to an external source of current. The starting and-stopping switch 93 is conventional and its details form no part of the present invention. The starting and stopping switch 93 is provided with the usual starting and stopping push buttons '99 and 100 respectively by which the motor 91 is started and stopped manually through the-action of the electric current just described.

In Figure 1, the article carrier or pickup 50 is moved upward and downward by means of a piston 121 having a piston head 122 reciprocable vertically within the bore 123 of a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder 124- having pressure-fluid service ports 125 and 126 near its opposite ends. The service ports 125 and 126 are connected by pipes 127 and 128 respectively to the corresponding port of a conventional four-way valve 128a having a pressure Z 'fluid pipe 129 and a fluid discharge pipe 130 connected thereto. A control valve 131 havinga hand wheel 132 regulates the supply of pressure fluid to the valve 128a and consequently regulates the speed of reciprocation of the piston 121.

Slidably mounted on the rod 57 which carries the magnet 58 of the article pickup 50 and reciprocable relatively thereto is a sleeve or hub 133 having a bore 134 therethrough for receiving the rod 57. Projecting radially in opposite directions from the sleeve133 are integral arms 135 and 136 respectively. The arm 135 actuates the operating arm 137 of a lower reversing switch 138 which is connected by'one wire 139 to the starting and stopping switch 93 and by another wire 140 to one of the two operating solenoids 141 and 142 of the four-way valve 128. The remaining terminal of the solenoid 141 and one of the terminals of the solenoid 142 are connected respectively by wires 143 and 144 to the starting and stopping switch 93. The remaining terminal of the solenoid 142 is connected by a wire 145 to the upper reversing switch 77, the remaining Wire 148 of which runs back to the starting and stopping switch 93. The starting and stopping switch 93, as before, is supplied with electric current through the wires 97 and 99.

The arms 135 and 136, sleeve 133 and rod'57 mounted therein, together with the article carrier or pickup 50'are raised and lowered'by an annularly-grooved shift collar 147 mounted on the upper side of the arm 136 and engaged by the forked end 148 (Figure 2) of a cross head 149, the opposite end 150 of which moves vertically in a straight vertical guide channel 151 mounted on brackets 152 secured to the inside wallof the casing 27., The crosshead 149 near its midportion carries a boss 153 which is bored to receive the lower end of the piston rod 121 which'is pinned or otherwise secured thereto. Seated in the outer end of the arm 136 is a pin 154'carrying a roller 155 which engages the groove or channel 112 in the channel cam 68 and is guided thereby in its ascent and descent. A collar or other enlargement 156 is provided at the upper end of the rod 57 for engagement by the upper end of the sleeve 133' so as to lift the rod 57 andits associated parts, including the article pickup 50.

' In order to further guide the article pickup 50in its ascent and descent, the grooved shift collar-147 is bored to receive and slide freely up and downupon'a guide shaft or guide rod 157, the upper and lower ends of which are mounted in brackets 158 and 159 respectively bolted to the housing 27 and cover 38 thereof (Figure 1).

In the operation of the conveyor elevator of Figures 1 and 2, the operator starts the apparatus in operation by pressing the starting push button 99 of the starting and stopping switch 93. This action energizes the solenoid 141 to cause the valve 128a to deliver pressure fluid from the pressure fluid supply line 129 (which leads to a conventional pump or other source of pressure fluid, not shown) to the service pipe 128 and service port 126 at the lower end of the cylinder 124. The pressure fluid thus acting beneath the piston head 122 moves the latter upward in the cylinder bore 123, raising the piston 121 and the cross head 149 attached to it. At the same time, fluid is discharged through the port 125 and upper service pipe 127 from the space above the piston head 122.

The upward motion of the cross head 149 conveys upward motion to' the arms 136 and 135 and sleeve 133 through the engagement of the forked end 148 with the grooved shift collar 147, withdrawing the arm 135 from engagement with the operating arm 137 of the reversing switch 138. The sleeve 133 moves upward until it engages the enlargement or collar 156 on the upper end of the rod 57, lifting the latter and with it the article pickup 50 and the articles on the bottom of the pickup casing 51 attracted by the magnet 58. This assembly moves upward with the roller 155 engaging the straight portion 62 of the channel cam 60 until it reaches the point 63, after which the roller 155 traverses the helical cam portion 64 to swing the arms 135 and 136 and sleeve 133 around the guide shaft 157 and collar 147 as an axis, bringing the article pickup 50 into the dotted line position shown in the upper left-hand corner of Figure 6.

As before, the pickup casing 51 halts when itsscrews 53 encounter the stop bar 68 but the rod 57 and magnet 58 continue to be pulled upward by the still rising arm 136 and sleeve 133, with the roller 155 now traversing the straight portion 66 of the channel cam 60. As before, this draws the magnet 58 away from the bottom of the pickup casing 51 with the effect of diminishing its magnetic force on the conveyed articles 11 so that again they drop into the spout 31. When the upper end of the rod 57 encounters the operating arm 76 of the upper reversing switch 77 it actuates this switch to energize the solenoid 152 and reverse the position of the fourway valve 1128a. This action causes pressure fluid .to be admitted through the upper service pipe 127 and port 125 to the upper end of the cylinder bore 123, moving the piston 122 downward while fluid is discharged through the lower port 126 and lower service pipe 128.

As the piston 121 moves downward, it carries with it the cross head 149, shift collar 147, arm 136, sleeve 133, rod 57 and article pickup 50, swinging this assembly from the dotted line position in the upper portion of Figure 6 to the solid line position in the lower portion thereof. As the arm 135 reaches the lower reversing switch 138, it actuates the operating lever 137 thereof to energize the solenoid 141 and de-energize the solenoid 142, reversing the valve 128a and consequently causing the piston head 122, piston 121, cross head 149 and article pickup 50 to move upward as before. Meanwhile, however, before the sleeve 133 reached its lowermost position, the bottom of the article pickup casing 51 had come to rest upon the ferrous metal articles 11 in the supply container 12 while the magnet 58 continued to move downward, bringing its magnetic field to bear upon the articles 11. Consequently, when the article pickup 50 again rises, it carries with it a specific number of articles 11 as before. The operation of elevating and discharging the articles 11 then proceeds until halting of the apparatus is brought about by the arm 40 and the discharge control switch 38 which are operated when the conveyed articles 11 accumulate to such a height in the receiving container 13 that they tumble downward along the sides of the heap until they push against the swinging arm 40 to actuate the plunger 39 of the discharge control switch 38, independently operating the starting and stopping switch 93 to shift the four-way valve 128 to its neutral position. This arrangement prevents the undesired accumulation of an excessive number or quantity of conveyed parts in the receiving container 13. When, however, the level of the parts in the receiving container 13 drops below the lower end of the arm 40, the latter swings to the left under the force behind the spring-pressed switch plunger 39, actuating the switch 38 and consequently actuating the switch 93 to shift the four-way valve 128 so as to continue the operation of the conveyor elevator in the manner described above.

Thus, in the present invention, the article pickup 50 picks up and conveys ferrous metal parts regardless of the level of the articles 11 in the supply container 12 and automatically compensates for the rise and fall of that level.

In place of the magnetic pickup 50 described above, it will be obvious that a suction pickup or mechanical grasping device or hook may be substituted, especially for handling non-magnetically-attracted articles of non-ferrous metals or of non-metallic materials.

What we claim is:

1. A conveyor elevator for lifting articles from a supply station at a low level to a laterally offset delivery station at a higher level, said conveyor elevator comprising a substantially upright supporting structure positioned above said supply station, an article pickup elevator unit connected to said supporting structure and movable in a substantially vertical path, an article pickup carrier unit connected to said elevator unit and movable upward and downward thereby, said carrier unit being mounted on said elevator unit for lateral movement relatively thereto, an article pickup unit mounted on said carrier unit for travel therewith, a motor including a fluid pressure cylinder element and piston element reciprocable therein, one of said elements being drivingly connected to said elevator unit, and mechanism responsive to the travel of one of said units to a predetermined height above said supply station for moving said carrier unit laterally relatively to said elevator unit toward said delivery station.

2. A conveyor elevator for lifting articles from a supply station at a low level to a laterally offset delivery station at a higher level, said conveyor elevator comprising a substantially upright supporting structure positioned above said supply station, an article pickup elevator unit connected to said supporting structure and movable in a substantially vertical path, an article pickup carrier unit connected to said elevator unit and movable upward and downward thereby, said carrier unit being mounted on said elevator unit for lateral movement relatively there to, an article pickup unit mounted on said carrier unit for travel therewith, a reversible motor including a doubleacting fluid pressure cylinder element, a piston element reciprocable therein, and a reversible pressure fluid supply device connected to said cylinder element for reversibly supplying pressure fluid thereto, one of said elements being drivingly connected to said elevator unit, and mechanism responsive to the travel of one of said units to a predetermined height above said supply station for moving said carrier unit laterally relatively to said elevator unit toward said delivery station.

No references cited. 

